Doctor Who 12x08 Edited

I love the combination of humor and horror in this episode. And the incorporation of Shelley's and Byron's poetry. Shelley: "There's not one atom of yon earth but once / Was living man..." Byron: "Darkness had no need / of aid from them -- she was the universe." And having Mary Shelley call Ashad this "modern Prometheus," the subtitle to her novel. Love the use of the special effect of having an actor walk offscreen behind a curtain, turn around and walk back into the room to demonstrate how they are trapped in the room. We totally buy it! The whole escape room aspect of the episode keeps us so engrossed. And this take on a Cyberman is brilliant! It is terrifying to have, instead of an emotionless drone, a screaming, roaring, grinning Cyberman zealot. The musical theme that Akinola wrote for the Cyberman literally underscores how terrifying and relentless Ashad is -- and it's just rhythmic, mechanical-sounding octave jumps. So effective! (Akinola's work throughout this era is so good! Perhaps a shocking difference from Gold's excellent work, and certainly a very different approach, but so good!)

This is a brilliant episode, really good horror vibes, the lone cyberman is a really cool different version of what we've seen before too. Jodie is excellent in this one too, I don't think she she gets enough 'Don't you know who I am' type speeches like she did towards the end of this one, it was a really cool speech. But yeah a very good episode.

Nice spine chilling episode and pretty cool they had Percy Bysshe Shelley incorporated into it too

I knew you'd enjoy this one as another scary one with a historical setting. Once again Chibnall has a great new idea for an old villain, made even better by having Ashad the inspiration for the Frankenstein novel. There was a 'gothic horror' era of Classic Who which it seems you might enjoy, especially as it had a 'Frankenstein' story. I like that they made Ashad a terrible person even before his partial conversion and rather than a more tragic figure who had been good.

This was the episode where I looked at Jodie and said "Oh, there's the Doctor." I liked her friendly, awkward "fam" persona, but this dark turn where she let her facade slip and was a little more serious was brilliant. The fam have been so supportive of her and she's gently pushed back against it, but here she steps up and shows that sometimes she has to be more than your friend, she has to be the Doctor. The atmosphere was great, the mystery was interesting, the twist was unexpected, and the resolution was triumphant, but with a larger looming threat that needed to be confronted. Just a solid episode.

definitely my favorite episode of s12! a mystery that becomes something completely not what you expect, while also tying smoothly into the season arch. the vibes are just spooky enough to be tasteful. yaz's talk with that girl about the enigmatic people in their lives was a delightful bit. the lone cyberman design is so good, and his score is excellent, brings a lot of tension. 13's torment over losing people to cybermen and how tense and short tempered she became the moment cyberman is involved. fam's quiet support in the way they are ready to tackle their next task no matter how dangerous. the frankenstein inspiration iself. the humor was on point. i just think this episode develops so good all around!